why did voyager have tricobalt devices

Voyager-Kazon conflict

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The Voyager - Kazon conflict was a two-year period from 2371 - 2373 during which the USS Voyager was attacked multiple times by the Kazon-Nistrim sect, although other sects were involved to a degree. The conflict began after Voyager destroyed the Caretaker's array shortly after Voyager 's arrival in the Delta Quadrant , denying the Kazon its advanced technology.

• 1 The Caretaker
• 2 Seska defects to the Nistrim
• 3 Frequent attacks and treason
• 4 Final confrontation
• 5 Aftermath

The Caretaker [ ]

Voyager destroys the Caretaker's array

By 2371 , the Caretaker had been pulling in ships from all over the galaxy hoping to find a suitable mate so his offspring could take over his role of caring for the Ocampan people following his death. Two vessels that had recently been pulled into the region were the Federation starship USS Voyager , commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway , and the Maquis raider Val Jean , commanded by Chakotay . Following his genetic testing on the Voyager and Val Jean crew, he sent two of their crewmembers to the Ocampan homeworld to be treated for an illness contracted during the testing.

While searching for their missing crewmembers, the Val Jean and Voyager came across a Talaxian by the name of Neelix . He offered to assist the crews find their missing people in exchange for water to pay back to the Kazon-Ogla . When the two crews and Neelix beamed down to the barren Ocampan surface, they were taken by the Kazon and spoke to their maje , Jabin . Although Captain Janeway appeared to be making progress in negotiating with Jabin, Neelix proceeded to take him hostage; he then took his girlfriend, Kes , and fired his phaser at the water containers beamed down by Voyager , allowing them to escape while the Kazon were distracted.

After the missing crewmembers were recovered, Voyager and the Val Jean proceeded to the Caretaker's array to negotiate passage back to the Alpha Quadrant . By the time they arrived, multiple Kazon ships were already arriving at the array to investigate the entity's "strange behavior." With no intention of allowing anyone to beam over to the array, the Kazon attacked Voyager and the Val Jean. During the battle, a large Kazon carrier vessel arrived and began inflicting serious damage to Voyager . Chakotay had his crew transported to Voyager with the intention of "taking some heat" off the vessel's tail. Chakotay rammed the Val Jean into the Kazon vessel, beaming out a split second before the impact that destroyed his ship and crippled the large Kazon starship.

Kazon vessels approach Voyager

Meanwhile, on board the array, the Caretaker himself was near death. He attempted to activate a self-destruct sequence , but the damaged Kazon carrier vessel collided with the array, severely damaging the station and rendering the self-destruct sequence inactive. His final words before his death were to Captain Janeway, who had managed to beam over with Lieutenant Tuvok , stating that the installation must be destroyed to prevent the Kazon from using the technology to harm the Ocampa. Although Tuvok believed that destroying the array would violate the Prime Directive , Janeway reasoned that the Voyager crew was "already involved" in the situation and made the decision to destroy the array.

Upon returning to Voyager , Janeway had Tuvok arm the tricobalt devices necessary to destroy the array. Voyager fired two devices at a yield of 20,000 teracochranes, obliterating the array and leaving no debris. Jabin hailed Voyager immediately afterward, informing Janeway that she had made an enemy that day. The remaining Kazon ships then immediately withdrew. ( VOY : " Caretaker ", " The Voyager Conspiracy ")

Seska defects to the Nistrim [ ]

Upon the destruction of the Val Jean , the Maquis crew were invited to join the crew of Voyager for the seventy-year journey home. One of these crewmembers, Seska , joined as an ensign in the engineering department. Unknown to the Voyager crew, Seska was actually a Cardassian spy assigned to infiltrate Chakotay's crew and report on Maquis activities, just as Tuvok was for the Federation . Unfortunately, Seska strongly disagreed with Captain Janeway's decision to destroy the array, and began secret negotiations with the Kazon-Nistrim . Her first act was to deliver a replicator to the Kazon, although their lack of knowledge about the technology caused severe damage to one of their ships and the deaths of the crew. When Voyager found the replicator, the crew suspected that someone had given the technology to the Kazon, and an investigation exposed Seska. Upon her discovery, Seska spoke of her dislike for Janeway and her decision to strand Voyager in the Delta Quadrant. She then immediately beamed to a nearby Kazon vessel and disappeared. ( VOY : " State of Flux ")

Frequent attacks and treason [ ]

A Kazon warship

With Seska supplying information about Voyager and training them in Cardassian battle tactics, the Kazon were able to raid Voyager and steal a transporter module in 2372 . Although Commander Chakotay was able to destroy the module a brief time later, he was captured and interrogated by the Kazon. Before Voyager was able to rescue him, Seska took a sample of his DNA and impregnated herself with it. ( VOY : " Maneuvers ")

A later Kazon attack, the fourth in a two-week period of time, took the life of a former Maquis, Kurt Bendera , who was popular with many of the Maquis on board including Chakotay, B'Elanna Torres , and Ensign Hogan . Feeling that Starfleet's policies were not working with the Kazon, Chakotay suggested a new approach: making a deal. A summit was arranged to discuss the possibility of an alliance with some of the Kazon sects. Voyager would offer to defend any allied ships from attack and provide emergency aid to ships and outposts in exchange for the cessation of hostilities. Unfortunately, the talks were cut short by an attack by the Trabe , the race who had formerly oppressed the Kazon. The Trabe had hoped to wipe out the Kazon leadership and throw the sects into chaos, but was stopped by Voyager . Unfortunately hostilities between the vessel and the Kazon continued. ( VOY : " Alliances ")

Sometime in 2372, Michael Jonas began feeding information about Voyager to the Kazon. Although Lieutenant Tuvok was able to detect that someone had contacted the Nistrim, he was unable to pinpoint who it was and where it was coming from. A plan was concocted between himself, Captain Janeway, and Lieutenant Tom Paris to have Paris start behaving like a malcontent in order to make the impression that he wanted to leave the ship. The plan was successful, with Paris getting into fights with both Chakotay and Lieutenant Rollins to curb any suspicion of his true intentions. Upon leaving Voyager , Paris was captured by the Kazon as planned. After examining the Kazon computer, he discovered Michael Jonas' treason and quickly made his escape back to Voyager with the news. Meanwhile, back on Voyager Neelix had discovered Jonas' betrayal by his own methods, and was able to kill him during a fight in engineering. ( VOY : " Dreadnought ", " Lifesigns ", " Investigations ")

Final confrontation [ ]

Seska's baby

Voyager lands on Hanon IV under the control of the Kazon-Nistrim

By the end of 2372, Seska had given birth to her child. She contacted Voyager and pleaded desperately for help as Maje Culluh had realized that the child was not his and planned on raising him to be a slave . Although realizing the possibility of Kazon deception, the Voyager crew rallied behind Chakotay and his responsibility to his son. Holographic projectors were installed on Voyager 's hull to give the illusion of friendly ships to draw enemy fire away from Voyager , and the ship was within close range of a Talaxian colony willing to provide aid in the event of an ambush. Unfortunately, despite the crew's best efforts, Voyager was captured by Kazon forces in the ensuing ambush. Lieutenant Tom Paris managed to escape the combat zone in a shuttle and went back to the Talaxian colony to get help, but not before the Voyager crew was marooned on Hanon IV .

On Voyager , The Doctor and Lon Suder , a recovering sociopathic Betazoid , remained on board. The Doctor was tied into the sickbay systems at the time and unable to join the crew on Hanon, and Suder had successfully remained hidden during the Kazon attack. Together they managed to sabotage Voyager 's backup phaser couplings as well as other systems on board. The Doctor also uncovered that Seska's child was in fact Culluh's and not Chakotay's.

Paris and the Talaxian fleet managed to intercept Voyager and disable the vessel, with The Doctor and Suder's sabotage playing a key role in securing the vessel. Seska and Suder were killed during the final battle, but Culluh (with his son) and several Kazon soldiers escaped Voyager in escape pods . Paris then proceeded to pick up the Voyager crew on Hanon IV. ( VOY : " Basics, Part I ", " Basics, Part II ")

Aftermath [ ]

Voyager left Kazon space in early 2373 following Voyager 's recapture. Given the immense distance between the Federation and the Kazon Collective , the repercussions for the Kazon following the conflict with Voyager may never be known. Voyager herself suffered heavy damage at the hands of the Kazon during the conflict, and lost at least half a dozen crewmembers. Fortunately, the damage done to Voyager did not hinder its ability to return to the Alpha Quadrant in 2378 .

• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Tricobalt device

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A tricobalt device is a high-yield explosive used rarely by the United Federation of Planets and that were monitored under the auspices of the Second Khitomer Accords .

In 2155 in the mirror universe , the Tholians use tricobalt devices to create an interphasic rift through which they sent a distress call in order to draw ships to them. They succeeded in drawing the primary universe's USS Defiant through the rift, allowing the Tholians to capture Defiant . ( ENT episode : " In a Mirror, Darkly ")

In 2268 , an Arne Darvin from 2373 travelled back in time with a tricobalt device contained in a tribble with the hope that it would detonate near James T. Kirk . His efforts would be stopped by the crew of Deep Space 9 . ( DS9 episode : " Trials and Tribble-ations ")

In 2371 , USS Voyager was deployed with tricobalt weapons which would be used to destroy the Caretaker after Voyager was pulled into the Delta Quadrant . ( VOY episode : " Caretaker ")

In 2373 , the Maquis were able to obtain tricobalt weapons, which some feared would be used in a sneak attack on Cardassia Prime . ( DS9 episode : " Blaze of Glory ")

In 2381 , the USS Titan was carrying 8 tricobalt devices which they used to force the Null back into subspace. ( TTN novel : Synthesis )

External link [ ]

• Tricobalt device article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 The Chase
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Voyagers lack of Quantum Torpedoes

Discussion in ' Star Trek: Voyager ' started by Trekboy1993 , Dec 15, 2017 .

Trekboy1993 Lieutenant Red Shirt

Despite the fact the the Defiant got them before and the Enterprise-E got them not far after Voyager was lost. what gives? And I know they got 2 tricobalt devices to "even it out"  

Tosk Admiral Admiral

Not every ship has everything that other ships have.  

Bry_Sinclair Vice Admiral Admiral

Voyager left DS9 on stardate 48315.6 whilst the first mention of quantum torpedoes as a thing wasn't until "Defiant" which occurred on stardate 48467.3, three months after she went missing, so it could simply be that the quantums were scheduled to be issued until the beginning of June 2371. It didn't seem to be an issue, the shuttlecraft and torpedo factory they had onboard churned out more than enough photons for them over their journey home.  

Refuge Vice Admiral Admiral

Imagine if Voyager had had them? The whining would still be going on about how they existed, how shiny they were, how undeserved it was that Voyager had anything that helped her navigate home. I'm kind of glad she didn't.  

F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

Guys, the only real difference is that one is red, then other blue-white (and the colours totally vary in other versions of Trek, making that a bit moot, too) They say they're more powerful but it really never made a difference. We never had a story where a quantum torpedo could specifically do something a photon torpedo couldn't. So... no biggie.  

Takeru Space Police Commodore

Bry_Sinclair said: ↑ It didn't seem to be an issue, the shuttlecraft and torpedo factory they had onboard churned out more than enough photons for them over their journey home. Click to expand...

at Quark's Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

King Daniel Paid CBS Plant said: ↑ Guys, the only real difference is that one is red, then other blue-white (and the colours totally vary in other versions of Trek, making that a bit moot, too) They say they're more powerful but it really never made a difference. We never had a story where a quantum torpedo could specifically do something a photon torpedo couldn't. So... no biggie. Click to expand...

at Quark's said: ↑ Next you're going to tell us it doesn't really matter Voyager had a sustainable cruise velocity of warp 9.975 or that it had bio-neuro gelpacks Click to expand...

^Oh, they would have found a way to make it happen. Remember those nitrium parasites from TNG ?  

Paul Weaver Vice Admiral Premium Member

That early on the crew had no idea if or how they could make their own torpedoes (and shuttles), so a warning in the heat of battle on the bridge made perfect sense. As they settled into reality they realized that starfleet ships could actually do remarkably well for years on end without a spacedock -- something that was designed into the galaxy class (indepednent missions lasting 7 years without starbase layover)  

Prax Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

They eventually got the equivalent. "Transphasic Torpedoes." They just took a few decades to invent.  

Even if these quantum torpedoes had been released just before Voyager started its mission, would they have been fitted with them as a matter of priority? After all, their mission was 'only' to find a lost Maquis ship in the badlands, which probably would be no match for Voyager anyway. (But perhaps they thought they might run into Cardassians as well?) Then again, there was even less reason for them to have these tri-cobalt devices on board....  

That reminds me of Voyager Conspiracy. CHAKOTAY: I'll admit the timing seems a little convenient, but that doesn't mean there was a master plan. SEVEN: Why did the Captain destroy the array? CHAKOTAY: So the Kazon couldn't use it to attack the Ocampa. SEVEN: That's what she told the crew, but I believe she intended to remain in the Delta Quadrant all along. If the Array had remained intact, you and all the others would have insisted on using it to return home. CHAKOTAY: She was keeping it from the Kazon. SEVEN: The Captain ordered Commander Tuvok to destroy the array. He fired two tricobalt devices. Are those weapons normally carried on Federation Starships? CHAKOTAY: No. SEVEN: Yet they were part of Voyager's arsenal. Why? CHAKOTAY: I can't explain that. SEVEN: I can. Neither phasers nor torpedoes are capable of creating a tear in subspace. A tricobalt device is. As Tuvok detonated the device, a cloaked ship locked on to one of the array's tetryon reactors and pushed it through the tear into subspace, protecting it from the blast and hiding it from Voyager's sensors. But the Captain and Tuvok knew exactly where it was going. Once Voyager left the area, the reactor was retrieved and began a similar journey, carried by a series of vessels until it was finally delivered to Miste CHAKOTAY: You've uncovered some interesting facts. But your interpretation is far-fetched. These are random incidents. Granted, some of them are hard to explain, but there's no conspiracy here. SEVEN: Stardate 51008, Captain Janeway allows Kes to leave Voyager. Neelix told me that Kes had suspicions about the Caretaker. Was the captain trying to silence her? Stardate 51462, the Doctor's programme is transmitted to a Starfleet vessel on the outskirts of the Alpha Quadrant. An attempt by the Captain to contact Earth or a secret communiqu� informing Starfleet of her progress? Stardate 50984, Janeway forges an alliance with the Borg. Stardate 51762, a cease-fire with the Hirogen. Stardate 52861, a non-aggression pact with the Terkellians. She called each incident diplomacy. I believe she was trying to establish a tactical infrastructure in the Delta Quadrant. Over the past five years, Captain Janeway has altered course two hundred sixty three times in the name of exploration. In reality, she was mapping the region and collecting strategic data regarding Click to expand...

MacLeod Admiral Admiral

Paul Weaver said: ↑ That early on the crew had no idea if or how they could make their own torpedoes (and shuttles), so a warning in the heat of battle on the bridge made perfect sense. As they settled into reality they realized that starfleet ships could actually do remarkably well for years on end without a spacedock -- something that was designed into the galaxy class (indepednent missions lasting 7 years without starbase layover) Click to expand...

Tenacity Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

MacLeod said: ↑ It's not as if things like replicators where a new tech they had been around for a while so they knew their capabilites Click to expand...

saladdays Captain Captain

Paul Weaver said: ↑ That early on the crew had no idea if or how they could make their own torpedoes Click to expand...

^Yeah, it was said in episode 6, 'the cloud'. At that time, they probably hadn't even solved all short-term personnel problems yet, much less had had time to think about long-term sustainability problems.  

M.A.C.O. Commodore Commodore

Tenacity said: ↑ I think the statement of not being able to produce more torpedoes was based entirely on the ship's damaged condition at the time the statement was made. Not that the ship wouldn't able to if in good repair. Click to expand...

M.A.C.O. said: ↑ In all seriousness. The torpedo limitation, as well as other things, were self-imposed limitations the writers put on themselves and then abandoned when it became inconvenient. Click to expand...

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Star Trek: Voyager – The torpedo and shuttle “problem”

Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Discovery.

If you’ve been around the Star Trek fan community for a while, you might’ve heard some fans complaining about the “problem” of the USS Voyager’s use of shuttlecraft and torpedoes in Star Trek: Voyager. Perhaps this particular point of criticism was more biting in the late 1990s when Voyager was still on the air, but in some corners of the community it’s still talked about.

In short, fans have argued that, because Voyager was trapped in the Delta Quadrant and thus unable to be resupplied by Starfleet, they should have run out of torpedoes and shuttles. The number of shuttlecraft and torpedoes depicted in the series fluctuates, and some episodes focus on the need to conserve or seek out supplies, while in others, Captain Janeway and the crew seem to use these limited resources with abandon. Some fans have tried to calculate how many torpedoes and shuttles were used across all seven seasons of Voyager’ s run – presenting it as a “gotcha” moment when those numbers seem larger than they should be.

There are two ways to approach this, in my opinion. The first is to use an argument that I generally dislike: “it’s just a story.” I’ve written about this before, but one of the most important things when creating an ongoing story – especially one that has to fit into an existing franchise – is internal consistency. If it was established that the USS Voyager has, for example, four shuttles, and then a future episode arbitrarily changes that, then the show is not being internally consistent – i.e. consistent with itself. That, to me, has the potential to be immersion-breaking.

In some cases, “it’s just a story” is a perfectly valid excuse. In comedies like The Simpsons , for example, pretty basic things like which character’s bedroom is behind which door can change depending on which episode you’re watching – and on what the writers need it to be for the sake of a punchline or story. And in shows which have a floating timeline and are inherently un-serious, that isn’t really an issue. But other stories – those that want to be taken more seriously – do have to hold themselves to a higher standard, and thus the “it’s just a story” excuse generally doesn’t work in Star Trek to excuse inconsistencies and mistakes – at least in my opinion.

On a basic level it is of course true that many inconsistencies and “goofs” within Star Trek are there because the writers either deliberately chose to go in a specific direction or to ignore a previously-established fact in order to make a particular storyline work. That can be said to be an explanation for what happened – but not an excuse!

The second way to approach the issue of shuttles and torpedoes in Voyager is to use the franchise’s own internal canon, and particularly established facts from within Voyager itself. A simple count of the number of torpedoes shown on screen or the number of shuttlecraft mentioned early in the show’s run is only one part of a bigger picture, and there are ways that we can interpret other canonical events within the series or within Star Trek as a whole to explain what appear, on the surface, to be inconsistencies.

There are two big points to consider when discussing Voyager’ s shuttlecraft and torpedo complements, and how they could be replenished from an in-universe point of view. The first is trading and harvesting. On a number of occasions, Voyager depicted the crew visiting planets and moons to gather resources – everything from food to metals. And on a number of other occasions, the crew were able to make trades with Delta Quadrant factions in order to acquire resources that they were short of.

Weapons were only ever mentioned in the context of trading when Captain Janeway refused to sell Voyager’s weaponry to other races, but just because we didn’t see on screen the crew of Voyager bartering for someone else’s weapons – or more likely, weapon components and materials – doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. Trading to acquire weapons or components wouldn’t contradict Janeway’s orders and adherence to Federation values. If the crew were able to get the basic parts needed to make more torpedoes, then there’s no reason why those parts couldn’t be used. Nothing I know of within Star Trek suggests that torpedoes can only be manufactured at specific facilities, or that they’re even especially difficult to build or modify.

What is a torpedo made of? We’ve actually seen torpedoes up close on a few occasions within Star Trek, and we have a reasonably good idea as to how they work. A torpedo uses antimatter as its main explosive element, creating a matter-antimatter explosion when detonated. There are also references to plasma and ion radiation, and in addition the torpedo casing and other internal components are made from metal – perhaps the same kind of tritanium as used in the construction of starship hulls.

The main component that the crew of Voyager would need to get, as far as I can see, is the right kind of antimatter to be used in the warhead. Every other aspect of the torpedo should be fairly easy to come by – or to manufacture, which we’ll look at in a moment. Antimatter is not naturally occurring, so the crew would probably need to trade for it, unless it could be scavenged from wrecked or abandoned ships.

Shuttles are obviously less easy to trade for, but in the episode Alice we see this exact thing happen. Paris falls in love with a shuttlecraft he sees at a junkyard and convinces Chakotay to trade for it, acquiring a new shuttle for Voyager. In that episode it would backfire, of course, but the principle remains!

As above, it would be possible to trade for and harvest components and materials necessary to repair or build shuttles. The basic metals needed for the hull would be perhaps the most important, as well as components necessary for systems like warp drive, but I can see no reason why it should be impossible for the crew to get enough components and material together to replace a lost or damaged shuttlecraft.

So now we come to the second major way that the Voyager crew could resupply themselves: replicating and/or manufacturing their own torpedoes and shuttles. To me, the single biggest piece of evidence in favour of this argument is the creation of not one but two Delta Flyers. The ship had the capability to replicate large components and the crew had the necessary engineering expertise to build a spaceworthy craft from scratch. It stands to reason that, contained within Voyager’s databanks, are the designs and schematics for both torpedoes and shuttles.

Voyager was designed for long-range tactical and exploration missions, meaning that the possibility of the ship operating outside of Federation space and far from the nearest Starbase had to be taken into consideration when it was built. Logically that would include the ability to be self-sufficient for long periods of time, being able to repair and build components on the fly. It doesn’t mean Voyager’s resources are unlimited – but it does mean that the ship clearly has the ability to build new components and presumably a stockpile of raw materials for doing so.

Augmenting that supply is something we see the crew engage in numerous times, chasing down sources of energy, antimatter, food, metal, and so on. While food and power are arguably the most urgent and immediate concerns, ensuring that they have enough components and raw materials to repair the ship, build replacement parts, etc. are all important too. How many times did we see Voyager undergo repairs or suffer damage that wasn’t present in the next episode? The ship clearly has the capability to build replacement parts – and there’s no reason why that can’t apply to torpedoes and shuttles too.

Something we learned in Star Trek: Discovery could be relevant here too, and while it’s certainly up for debate I think it’s worth mentioning as part of this conversation. In the third season episode There Is A Tide , Admiral Vance – the head of Starfleet – told us a little more about the way replicators work. The replicators at Federation HQ in the 32nd Century used a base of matter that was repurposed into new configurations. In the case of Federation HQ, bodily waste was repurposed into food – presumably with other matter thrown in there too! But the principle that you could feed any old matter into a replicator and use the technology to repurpose it seems to be how replicators (and earlier synthesisers) work in Star Trek.

This is also, at a very basic level, how warp nacelles work. The Bussard collectors on the front of a starship’s warp nacelles collect particles of hydrogen and deuterium while the ship is in flight, using the collected molecules as a way to augment the ship’s fuel supply. Insert one kind of matter, transform it into fuel, and use that fuel to fly.

The specifics of exactly how these technologies work is deliberately kept somewhat vague, but replication and collecting resources seem to me to offer an in-universe explanation as to how the crew of Voyager could replenish their supplies of expendable items like torpedoes, as well as replace destroyed shuttlecraft and even make complete repairs to the ship.

When you combine what we see on screen just within Voyager itself – the many times the crew are scavenging and harvesting resources from planets and nebulae, all the times they traded with Delta Quadrant factions, the ship’s replicators, the ability to build the Delta Flyer twice – I think we can reasonably say that it adds up. Voyager had the ability to produce new torpedoes, repair damage to its hull and systems, and even build new shuttlecraft. There is no plot hole!

I understand why some fans feel that this is a problem. Some episodes do seem to contradict some of what I’ve said, and especially in the early part of the show’s run, the supply of torpedoes in particular was mentioned more than once. Captain Janeway did once say that there was “no way” to replace the ship’s 40-odd torpedoes – but given everything we know about replicators and the crew’s ingenuity, perhaps that was either a misunderstanding on her part or something that the crew were able to overcome at a later time.

The ship started out with 40 torpedoes (and a few tricobalt explosive devices). But by the end of the series almost 150 torpedoes had been fired – at least, according to the sources I can find online! There were also at least eight shuttlecraft used on the show across its seven-year run. The only way to make this internally consistent is using some combination of trading, harvesting resources, and building/replicating replacement parts. Given that we see Voyager is capable of this when building the Delta Flyer, I don’t see it as a plot hole.

So that’s my solution to this longstanding “problem.” The crew were very resourceful, willing and able to make trades with different factions, to think outside the box when it came to how best to use what they had to make it home. The ship itself is powerful, designed for long missions, and kitted out for exactly these kinds of issues. Though it may not have been shown on screen outright, it seems like the best fit based on everything we know is simply that the crew figured out a way to build more torpedoes, shuttles, and repair kits at some point relatively early into their journey home.

Problem solved. Right?

Star Trek: Voyager ran from 1995-2001 and is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access (soon to be rebranded as Paramount+) in the United States, and on Netflix and/or Amazon Prime Video in the UK and elsewhere. The series is also available on DVD. The Star Trek franchise – including Star Trek: Voyager and all other properties mentioned above – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

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Tricobalt device

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USS Voyager firing tricobalt devices

Tricobalt devices were high-yield explosives capable of producing subspace disruptions.

Tricobalt Weapons were in use in Starfleet since the 2170s , However the More powerful Photon torpedo was used more often than the Tricobalt Device. The Einstein class Starships utilized low yield Tricobalt Micro-torpedo launchers Commonly referred to as "Phaser Turrets".

External link [ ]

Tricobalt device article at Memory Alpha , the canon Star Trek wiki.

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Published Dec 15, 2014

Celebrating the Ships of the Line: USS Voyager NCC-74656

The USS Voyager NCC-74656 was an Intrepid-class starship launched in 2371 by Starfleet. Under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway, the ship was relatively small, with a length of 343 meters, a crew complement of 160 and just 15 decks, but she boasted several innovations that set her apart from other ships in the fleet, including variable geometry warp nacelles, an Emergency Medical Holographic program, bio-neural circuitry, quantum torpedoes, tricobalt devices and spatial charges. The Voyager needed all of that and more -- not to mention her sustainable cruise velocity of warp factor 9.975 -- when she wound up trapped for seven years (2371-2378) in the Delta Quadrant.

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Tricobalt Device

Voyager 1 had a problem. Here's how NASA fixed it from 15 billion miles away.

Working from more than 15 billion miles away, NASA engineers have solved a computer problem aboard Voyager 1 , allowing the probe to send readable data five months after a chip error made its transmissions impossible to decipher.

Voyager 1, along with its sister craft, Voyager 2, are  robotic probes  that were launched in 1977. Voyager 1 reached interstellar space in 2012. It's now 15.1 billion miles away, the farthest from Earth a human-made object has ever traveled.

Learn more: Closer look at Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 .

Voyager 2 entered interstellar space − the space between the stars, starting at abou t 11 billion miles from our sun − in 2018. It's now 12.7 billion miles away.

Voyager 1's computer glitch garbled the science and engineering data the craft sends to Earth, which rendered it unreadable. That started on Nov. 14, 2023.

How did engineers fix Voyager's problem?

Engineers from NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory discovered a single computer chip inside the spacecraft’s Flight Data Subsystem – which collects science and engineering information and transmits it to Earth – had malfunctioned.

Can't see our graphics? Click here .

The chip stored part of the Flight Data Subsystem's memory and software code. Engineers could still receive data from Voyager 1, but it was scrambled.

The chip could not be repaired. Instead, engineers moved software code from the chip into a different part of the subsystem's memory system.

The code was too large to to be stored in a single location in the spacecraft. Engineers divided the code into sections and stored them in different places within the subsystem. The code sections were adjusted to make sure they worked as a whole.

Engineers tested the fix by moving a code that transmits data about the spacecraft. They were rewarded with a transmission from Voyager that contained readable data about the craft's status.

All that took time. Voyager is moving about 38,000 mph. Because it's so far away, it takes 22.5 hours for a radio signal to reach Voyager. It takes another 22.5 hours for the spacecraft’s reply to reach antenna networks on Earth.

What happens next?

Engineers will reposition and synchronize the other parts of the code. That should allow Voyager 1 to start sending readable data on what it finds as it moves farther away from Earth.

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology; Reuters